iSMM 



Ie 286 

.B74 

1844 
I Copy 1 




MR. CHANDLER'S ORATION. 



4 



THE MORALS OF FREEDOM. 



AN 



E AT I N 



DELIVERED 



BEFORE THE AUTHORITIES 



THE CITY OF BOSTON, 



JULY 4, 1844 



BY PELEG W. CHANDLER. 



BOSTON: 

JOHN H. EASTBURN, CITY PRINTER. 

1844. 






s^4 



f 



^ 



CITY OF BOSTON 



In the Board of Mdermen, July 8, 1844. 

Resolved, by unanimous vote, that the thanks of this Board be pre- 
sented, in behalf of the City Council, to Peleg W. Chandler, Esq., for 
the iible and eloquent Oration delivered by him, before the Municipal Au- 
thorities of the City, at tlie recent celebration of the Anniversary of the Dec- 
laration of the Independence of the United States; — and that he be requested 
to furnish a copy of the same for ihe press. 
A true copy of Record, 

Attest, S. F. McCLEARY, City Clerk. 



City Hall, July 9, 1844. 

Sir, 

I have the pleasure to communicate to you a vote of the Board of Alder- 
men, requesting a copy of your Oration, delivered on the fourth of July, for 
publication. And 1 take this opportunity to thank you for the sound and 
manly sentiments you expres.sed, and I have no doubt that the publication of 
your eloquent Address, at this time, will be conducive of much good. 
Very respectfully. 

Your obedient servant, 

M. BRIMMER, Mayor. 
P. W. Chandler, Esq. 



ORATION. 



On this day, for more than half a century, the peo- 
ple have assembled in every part of our land, to indulge 
in congratulations upon the success of free institutions, 
and to recall the history of that event by which they 
were established. The men of the revolution have 
been accustomed to join in the festivities of the oc- 
casion, and their presence has added interest to the 
scene, imparting to the orators of the day an animation, 
that has sometimes exceeded the bounds of sound dis- 
cretion and cultivated taste. But with the present 
generation a change is taking place. The scenes of 
the revolution are growing dim in the distance ; those 
venerable men are no longer with us, and our inde- 
pendence is celebrated by the children's children of 
those who achieved it. The period for declamation 
and retrospective boasting has passed away. A more 
sombre hue now rests upon the day; it has become an 
occasion of serious investigation into our real condi- 
tion, and of solemn self-examination. 



This manner of spending the fourth of July is less 
agreeable to our self-love, but it may serve a higher 
purpose, and have a better influence upon our future 
welfare. For although the love of country, as a mere 
instinct of our nature, may be excited to an excessive 
heat by appeals to our vanity and pride, there is a 
genial glow, far more to be desired, which is better 
kept alive by a famiharity with our dangers, and an ac- 
tive knowledge of the duties imposed upon us by our 
real condition. It is not the part of wisdom to con- 
ceal our weaknesses, or to envelope ourselves with a 
cloud of vanity and self-love, through which the light of 
truth can never penetrate. 

Extremes naturally generate each other. An excess 
in one direction almost always leads, by the effect of 
reaction, to an excess in the opposite, as the pendulum, 
when driven to the extremest hmit of its circle, is sure 
to return to a corresponding distance from the central 
point. It must be confessed, that the manner of cele- 
brating this day in former times has lately given place 
to one not less objectionable to all who have faith in 
the stability of our institutions. The glad sound of 
ringing bells and the roar of cannon, with which it once 
was ushered in, and the turmoil and excitement with 
which it was attended, are surely preferable to that en- 
tire absence of all feehng, which indicates an indiffer- 
ence to one of the greatest events recorded in history. 
He was a gloomy misanthrope who said he would do 
nothing for posterity because posterity had done nothing 
for him ; but what shall be said of those who refuse, 



on a day like this, to turn aside from the cares and 
anxieties of Ufe, and pay a tribute to the virtues of an- 
cestors, who devoted their hves, their fortunes and their 
sacred honor to the happiness of their posterity ; or who 
only indulge in gloomy forebodings, and a discontented 
spirit? Surely the declamation and vapid toasts of 
earlier times are preferable to this ; whilst the enthusi- 
astic faith and glowing hopes — characteristic of a young 
and energetic people — are more in accordance with 
the spirit of our history than that morbid conservatism, 
with eyes behind, that admits nothing of human pro- 
gress ; that exaggerates actual difficulties in our form 
of government, or depicts in fervid eloquence those 
which are entirely imaginary. 

It is evident that the passions of man have more free- 
dom and are more apparent in a republic than in a 
despotism ; not that man under the former government 
is more depraved than under the latter, but his passions 
assume a more distinctive form, and are not so much 
relieved by an appearance of the opposite good. This 
is especially the case in a new country like our own. 
Among a more ancient people the want of freedom is 
attended by a stronger internal pohce. Squahd poverty 
is seen by the side of inordinate wealth, without hope 
and without contentment. The eye takes in the prison 
and the palace at the same glance. Violations of the 
law are followed by speedy justice, whilst the armed bat- 
tahon instantly rides down the multitude who attempt to 
resist the law by force. It is natural for the eye to rest 
upon the most pleasing part of the picture. We for- 



8 



get the wretchedness, the poverty, the ignorance of the 
many, in admiration of the wealth, the learning, the 
taste of the few. We praise the speedy punishment of 
the offender, and do not stop to consider the gross de- 
fects in the laws which have helped to make him wor- 
thy of punishment. We admire the celerity with which 
sudden outbreaks of the people are checked, but do 
not inquire into the grievances of which they complain, 
and to remedy which they make a feeble attempt at 
combination. With what delight do we gaze on mag- 
nificent armies in their splendid array, or the gay trap- 
pings of royalty, or noble institutions devoted to sci- 
ence and the arts, — and how easy it is to forget the toil- 
ing millions, at whose expense all these are supported, 
who receive but a scanty subsistence, and whose souls 
are blinded, stupified, dwarfed, almost annihilated ! 

But with us the effect is somewhat different. We 
have no such splendid reliefs to divert attention from 
our actual evils. Here all is " bare creation." Such 
as we are, such we must appear. The eye rests at 
once upon our deformities, and is not attracted by 
splendid contrasts. Here the million instead of being 
crushed beneath the weight of power, actually possess 
all power themselves ; and political equality is the 
birthright of every citizen. In despotisms the govern- 
ment is not a true representative of the people, be- 
cause it does not depend upon the people. But with 
us the reverse is true ; and he who decides that the 
general character is lower than in other countries, 
merely because the government is less magnificent, less 



respectable and less effective, forms an opinion upon 
an entirely false basis. The government of this coun- 
try is sometimes administered in a manner that must 
meet the condemnation of good men in every part of 
the world. As a people, we have often had occa- 
sion to feel deep mortification at the proceedings of 
our rulers. The indignation of all good men has 
sometimes been roused at the acts of meanness and 
dishonesty of those in authority, and the mortifica- 
tion has been the deeper in the reflection, that such 
men received the support of a majority of our citizens, 
and must be taken as the representatives of our char- 
acter as a nation. 

But they who are filled with gloomy apprehensions, 
and who see nothing in our condition to excite the live- 
liest emotions of gratitude for the present, and hope for 
the future, must also despair of the success of x^ree in- 
stitutions in any part of the world, and of man's abihty 
for self-government ; for in what country could a rep- 
resentative system be carried out with more success 
than our own ? What nations in the old world, embra- 
cing the same extent of territory, and equally conflicting 
interests, would, under the most favorable circumstan- 
ces, be able to act together with rulers chosen by the 
people ? With what single nation in Europe could the 
experiment of self-government have the slightest hope 
of success ? Where could a representative assembly 
meet that would be superior to our own ? Would it be 
in that immense empire in the North which has not 
yet emerged from barbarism, and where the splen- 



10 



dor of despotic sway is in painful contrast with the de- 
basement of savage hordes, whose untaught milhons 
seem beyond the reach of hope ? Or in unhappy 
Spain, distracted by contending factions, and the con- 
stant prey of foreign aggression or civil wars ? Or in 
Italy, with her enervating faith, and her degraded popu- 
lation ? Or in that nation, where by a most refined 
policy, education itself is made to serve the purposes of 
tyranny ? Or in France, with her immense standing 
army and her savage peasantry, ever on the eve of a 
revolution ? Or even in the land from whence we 
derive our origin ; from whom we have our language, 
and whose arts and literature are all our own? A 
true representation of the people of that great country 
would present the most instructive picture to be found 
in all her history. The greatest wealth, the deepest 
learning, the most vast attainments, would meet with 
squalid poverty and abject ignorance, want, wretched- 
ness and crime, such as the world had never seen be- 
fore. The fierce clansman from his native hills, with 
the hate of his fathers still glowing in his heart. The 
wild Irishman from the West, burning to revenge the 
wrongs of two hundred years. The Chartist from the 
North. The Rebeccaite from Wales — the starving ope- 
rative — the dwarfed and stolid miner. Could all these 
be invested with political power, with what wild ener- 
gy would their representatives attack the time honored 
institutions of their native land. And if we could add 
to these a voice from every region where the tap of the 
British drum gives notice of conquest if not of injustice 



11 



and oppression ; in such an assembly from every region 
of the globe, and representing every tongue that is 
spoken, who could hope to calm the elements, to re- 
strain the passions, or enlighten the reason ? Who 
can say that a body composed of such materials would 
exhibit a better moral aspect than our own congress ? 

But comparisons of this sort are of doubtful utility, 
and are calculated to flatter national vanity at the ex- 
pense of truth, inasmuch as all the elements of the 
case are not ordinarily included in the statement. I 
hasten from this view of the subject with the more wil- 
hngness, as there is a constant tendency among our peo- 
ple to praise ourselves, at the expense of other nations. 
Whenever evils are pointed out, or vices denounced, 
we set ourselves at work to discover the same in our 
neighbors, and rest satisfied with the comparison, pro- 
claiming in trumpet tones our virtues and our valor, 
and pointing out, with wonderful minuteness, the vices, 
the follies and the crimes of others. 

A philosophical writer has observed, that the great 
danger in a democracy arises from the vanity of the 
people. The remark, although not made with refer- 
ence to us, yet seems appropriate to our condition. 
Various causes have been operating to produce a feel- 
ing of confidence in our position, and of indiflference to 
real or apparent dangers. The success of this govern- 
ment has not only been greater than was generally anti- 
cipated by its friends, but that success lias been attended 
with constant prophecies of failure. From the first de- 
claration of independence, men have doubted its princi- 



12 



pies and had little faith in a government founded on 
the' consent of the governed. Others admitted the 
principle, but have been filled with constant alarm at 
the manner in which it was carried out. In the early 
history of the government difficulties were dwelt upon, 
which time has proved to be without foundation. Be- 
fore the convention which adopted the constitution 
had separated, the declaration was made that it could 
never succeed ; the same thing was repeatedly asserted 
in the state conventions which ratified the constitu- 
tion, and some patriots of the revolution saw in our 
present form of government the grave of all their 
hopes. In every congress from the first to the present, 
the safety of our institutions has been asserted to de- 
pend upon measures which were not adopted ; and in 
the accession of every administration the end of the 
government has been firmly predicted. Difficulties of 
a trifling character have been immensely exaggerated 
for party purposes, and political alarmists have con- 
stantly warned the people that the end was near. 

But notwithstanding these things, our course has 
been onward. The people are prosperous and happy. 
The industrial resources of the country are every day 
developed ; the rewards of labor are adequate ; and on 
this day many millions of people are rejoicing in the 
enjoyment of free institutions, and praying for their 
success amongst the people of every land. In every 
part of the globe this day is remembered. Not a sea 
that is not whitened by our canvass ; not a port where 
our flag is not exhibited ; not a land where an Ameri- 



13 



can bosom does not glow at the recollection of the 
great event which we are now celebrating. 

The warnings of cautious statesmen and the fears of 
alarmists do not seem to be sustained by facts, and a 
feeling of confidence has grown up in the stability of 
our institutions, that nothing can disturb. Having es- 
caped great dangers which have been pointed out be- 
fore, we fear none that may come hereafter. Having 
become accustomed to the cry of alarm, it no longer 
makes any impression upon us, and a feeling of confi- 
dence and pride is engendered, which in reality is the 
most dangerous element in our character. It is said, 
that " eternal vigilance is the price of liberty," and we 
are urged to watch with argus eyes those whom we in- 
trust with power. But the remark has more signifi- 
cancy as applied to ourselves. It is not from foreign 
aggression that our country is threatened. It is not 
from our rulers that we have reason to fear. It is not 
war, nor domestic dissention that need alarm us. All 
these may come, but they will come in the train of 
something worse than all the evils they can ever bring 
upon us. It is ourselves whom we have reason to fear. 
It is the loss or the want of virtue and integrity in our 
own hearts. It is the feeling of vanity and pride that 
comes with the loss of these, that threaten us with the 
worst of evils. It is the silent working of wrong prin- 
ciples — the gradual corruption of the people — the loss 
of conscience and manly integrity, that are calculated 
to fill with alarm those who have the ability and the 
disposition to observe them. 



14 



Self-government, upon which the theory of a repub- 
Hc rests, is a word of pregnant import. It relates pri- 
marily to the individual rather than the mass. De- 
scending from the most important functions of adminis- 
trative power to the minutest concerns of hfe, it pene- 
trates the heart of every individual, seeking out his hid- 
den motives, and laying bare his most secret thoughts. 
Self-government by a people necessarily implies self- 
government by each individual composing that people ; 
the one is inseparable from the other. For no com- 
munity of men can be said to govern itself, unless those 
who compose it are able to bring themselves under the 
restraint implied by that most significant term. 

Truths so self-evident would hardly need to be stated, 
if there were not a disposition to generalize every thing 
that relates to public virtue. We have an abundance 
of integrity in the abstract. The public faith, we are 
fond of saying, is untarnished, and never was public 
morality more highly esteemed, or national vices more 
detested, than with us. When were the interests of 
humanity more regarded ? AVhen were all the chari- 
ties of life more exercised ? When were the means of 
general education more generally diffused? When 
were benevolent associations of every name and char- 
acter more universal ? But the welfare of a republic 
does not rest upon these high sounding and external 
facts. It is not an admiration of virtue on the large 
scale. It is not hospitals founded with princely liber- 
ality. It is not charitable institutions ; no, nor the in- 
violability of public engagements, not all these are suf- 



16 

ficient for the preservation of a government like ours ; 
for they may all exist in despotisms, and are found in 
far greater perfection among other nations than in our 
own. But it is that personal integrity as between man 
and man — that purity of character enjoined by the 
commandments of God, — honesty, sobriety, self-cul- 
ture, self-government, which are absolutely essential. 

Our government rests, most emphatically, upon the 
people as individuals, and every citizen is doing his 
part in sustaining it by the practice of virtue in his 
sphere, or in undermining it by a practical disregard of 
those principles which are absolutely essential to its 
stability. 

We are apt to regard the state as something differ- 
ent from an assemblage of individuals ; to suppose that 
it rests upon some other foundation than their will, and 
will continue in operation from some power independ- 
ent of the people. This is indeed true of most nations 
that we read of in history, but the theory of our gov- 
ernment is, that the people are themselves the state. 
Upon them it rests ; from them it takes its character. 
The influence of every man is thus felt throughout the 
remotest parts of the nation, and the government is but 
a representation of the moral and intellectual character 
of the individual citizens. It must truly represent 
them, for although at one time it may be of a more ele- 
vated character than the people, and at another time 
less elevated, it must ordinarily and finally come to this 
point as certainly as water finds its level. A dividing 
line between public and private virtue in a republic can 



16 



never be discerned, can never exist. One is the neces- 
sary attendant of the other. If not identical they are 
inseparable, and upon them both the welfare of the state 
depends : 



-Facies non omnibus una 



Nee diversa tamen ; qualem decet esse sororum. 

Public morality, national honor and integrity, in a 
government where individual morality, private honor 
and integrity are generally disregarded, would be an 
impossible anomaly ; and we shall invariably find, that 
public morals and private virtue are the necessary and 
inseparable elements in every free country. Whenever 
the principles of justice, the distinction between right 
and wrong, are not clearly understood and appreciated; 
whenever specious theories which strike at the founda- 
tion of the social system are popular with the people ; 
whenever in the personal relations of life a low standard 
of morality is established, it follows as a natural conse- 
quence that the standard of public virtue will also be 
low. Law and order will be openly decried or secretly 
opposed, and those who administer the law will be ob- 
noxious to the people. In the business community a 
wild and reckless spirit of speculation will sweep away 
the ancient landmarks, leaving only scattered fragments 
and blackened ruins. And in the political world the 
want of principle will be still more apparent, until 
at length whole states will exhibit a want of faith and 
honor that must justly draw upon them the contempt 
and scorn of the civilized world. 

It is in vain to deny, that many elements are now at 



17 



work which arc totally opposed to the theory of our 
government, and a spirit that leads directly to disorgan- 
ization. A distinction is practically made between pri- 
vate and public faith, that is destructive of the social 
system. The honiely virtues are not enforced with the 
zeal and earnestness of other days. The wildest the- 
ories are industriously propagated and are defended 
with no little zeal and ability ; and there seems to be 
infused throughout the whole texture of society a doc- 
trine of expediency as opposed to right ; while those 
ambitious of wealth or power are hurrying on without 
any regard to the rights of others or the claims of hu- 
manity, and with no fixed notions of principle. This 
spirit is manifesting itself in a manner that cannot be 
mistaken. What need is there to point to the many 
ruins that deform our land, or to call attention to the 
riots and the crimes, the violence and the murders, 
from which we turn as from a thrice told tale? Why al- 
lude to the many swindling combinations of the past few 
years, or the enormous frauds in which sovereign states 
have participated, or the gross attacks upon the judi- 
ciary, or the scenes of atrocity in our deliberative as- 
semblies, or acts of meanness and unmitigated villany 
which have been perpetrated by men in public office ? 
These are only the external manifestation of evils that 
lie under the surface — of a disease that is near tlie 
heart of the nation and is sending its poison through 
every part of the system. 

We are fond of calling the present a remarkable 
age. If by this is meant that the present age differs 



18 



from those that have preceded it, the remark is equally 
true of every age since the creation. But if it be 
meant that the present age is entitled to a higher rank 
in the scale of moral and intellectual being than any 
other, the remark is not true. The sword of Caesar, 
the pencil of Apelles, the chisel of Phidias, the pyra- 
mids of Egypt, the Grecian temples, the Roman aque- 
duct, the strains of Homer, the death of Socrates, the 
groves of Academus, the literature and the arts of an- 
cient states, the Roman virtue, the Grecian eloquence, 
the heroism, the courage, the greatness of soul, and all 
we know of ancient lore, rise up to disprove any such 
vain assertion. 

The present age seems distinguished above all oth- 
ers in intellectual culture, as opposed to moral. The 
whole aim appears to be to cultivate the understand- 
ing. To this every effort tends. To this all ambition 
is directed. To this every sacrifice is made. Educa- 
tion, in the popular acceptation of the term, is under- 
stood to apply to the intellectual faculties alone. The 
moral powers are comparatively neglected. The great 
effort is for the true rather than the good. The " dif- 
fusion of knowledge" is supposed to be the great pan- 
acea that is to cure all our evils. To teach the people 
how to read and to write, is regarded as the most es- 
sential thing in our system. But I do not hesitate to 
say, that knowledge of itself is not a positive good. 
The training of the intellectual faculties, without a cor- 
responding culture of the moral nature, may be a posi- 
tive evil. To educate a man's understanding, without 



J 



19 



at the same time strengthening his moral character, is 
only to give him greater power to injure society and 
himself. And yet this pernicious principle is very gen- 
erally received. We judge of men by their intellec- 
tual acquirements rather than their moral. We ad- 
mire what is termed genius without regard to virtue. 
More, we excuse the want of virtue in those whom 
the world term great. 

In this respect there is a wide departure from the 
character of the fathers of New England. The puri- 
tans were emphatically men of principle. They were 
morally rather than intellectually great. To maintain 
what they believed to be right they exerted all their 
energies, and were ready to lay down their lives in de- 
fence of the truth. They educated their children in the 
same manner. They regarded the moral character of 
infinitely greater consequence than the intellectual, and 
labored with untiring zeal to instil into the youthful 
mind the principles of truth, integrity, religion. Nor 
were they deficient in the softer qualities that dignify 
and adorn humanity. Stern and uncompromising in 
everything that related to principle, they were yet in 
their domestic relations the most tender and aflfectionate 
of men. And so of those gentle spirits who had come 
with them to these uninviting shores — the puritan wife 
and mother. What sacrifices did they meekly endure 
for the truth ! Poverty, famine, death, all these could 
not appal them. With what confidence and hope the 
gentle wife placed her hand in that of her husband, and 
sought with him a new home in a strange land. And 



20 



lo ! the desert smiled, the wilderness blossomed as a 
rose, the tree of life was planted in the midst of their 
habitation. There, morning and evening the prayer 
of faith was uttered in thankfulness and hope. And 
there were early inculcated, from the mother's lips, obe- 
dience to God, respect for authority, a love of law and 
order, and the principles of liberty. In these homes, 
around these puritan hearth-stones, the grand principles 
of self-government were always taught ; and in de- 
fence of these homes and of the principles there incul- 
cated, their children's children went forth to the battles 
of the revolution. 

Domestic education has a most important bearing 
upon the principles of our government and the stability 
of our institutions. The mother's influence is felt in 
every part of the state. Upon her the feeble infant 
relies for its natural support ; but its spirit is equally 
helpless, and rests upon hers, while her purest affections 
overshadow and protect it. If those affections are de- 
praved, what germs of wickedness and misery is she 
implanting in that tender heart. But if her spirit is pure 
and true, and she directs that infant mind in ways of 
gentleness and peace, enforcing the principles of obe- 
dience, of truth and of love, the child will ever be 
found upon the side of right, and ready to support the 
true principles of government. Of such children the 
mother — and our country as our common mother — 
may well exclaim with the Roman matron, " these are 
my jewels." 

A late writer has entered into an ingenious discussion 



21 



of the effect of infant literature upon national charac- 
ter. The subject has more significancy than would be 
supposed at the first impression, for he insists, that 
whatever may be the common tendency among a peo- 
ple, it is sure to be consciously or unconsciously as- 
sumed and prescribed as the pattern for the young. 
Thus in England the books for children exhibit a devo- 
tion to material objects and social distinctions, national 
antipathies and religious intolerance ; in France, mon- 
strous national conceit, admiration of mihtary renown, 
and love of theatrical effect ; in Germany, misty ab- 
stractions, and unprofitable sensibility. Now, in Amer- 
ica, as well as in England, to which this writer more 
particularly refers, the character of most of the children's 
books, that have been published during the last quarter 
of a century, is fairly typified in the name of Peter Par- 
ley, which the writers of some hundreds of them have 
assumed. These books have been addressed almost 
entirely to the cultivation of the understanding. The 
many tales sung or said from time immemorial, which 
have travelled from the remotest climes, and found ac- 
ceptance among people in every stage of culture, which 
with some slight change of costume or of incident have 
been adopted into every tongue, and which appeal to 
the other and certainly not less important elements 
of a young child's mind, its fancy, imagination, sympa- 
thies, affections, are almost all gone out of memory. 
Nothing is considered valuable unless it contain some 
fact, or can advance the child in actual knowledge. 
Thus, the constant effort is to enlarge the understand- 



22 



ing, without any regard to the affections. Nor is the 
child suffered to take his own course. Artificial stim- 
ulants are applied, and his intellectual activity is kept 
on a constant stretch by the effort made to cram him with 
knowledge, so that the schoolmaster, instead of kindly 
assisting in the natural and orderly developement of all 
the faculties, is degraded into a sort of intellectual sau- 
sage-maker ; and the materials sometimes used in either 
occupation are equally indigestible. In behalf of little 
children who are thus stuffed to the skin, one is tempted 
to interpose the shield of Mother Goose, and exclaim : 



All work and no play 
Makes Jack a dull boy 



The same general principle is observable in the high- 
er systems of education with us. The classics, which 
appeal to the more generous sentiments of our nature, 
are giving place to the natural sciences, mathemat- 
ical investigations and other kindred studies, which may 
be applied to seme practical use ; and these seminaries 
bid fair to be schools for the education of engineers 
rather than of scholars. Moral science seems to have 
fallen into complete neglect within their walls. Con- 
sider, too, the little consideration in which the fine arts, 
painting, poetry, sculpture and music are held in our 
country ; and the little esteem we have for men who 
have devoted themselves to these pursuits, regarding all 
as useless members of society, who do not contribute 
something to the gratification of the intellectual or 
physical wants of man. 



23 



So, too, in the commercial world, the age is remark- 
able for the same intellectual activity. It is the age of 
canals and rail-roads and steam-ships. Never was 
commercial enterprise more active. Never were the 
whole energies of man so engrossed by the cares of life. 
How we labor ; how we toil ! Thrift, thrift, is the uni- 
versal cry ; and our success is commensurate with our 
exertions, whilst there is danger that a sordid selfishness 
will assert supreme control over minds so intent upon 
gain. 

Are not these considerations sufficient to show, that 
the present age, with us at least, is one of intellectual 
rather than moral greatness — of a selfish calculating 
policy, rather than manly self-denial — of expediency 
rather than heroism. In such an age the distinction 
between right and wrong will not be very clearly defined 
either in public or private affairs, and acts of meanness 
and villany will find ready defenders. 

It is evident, that a spirit of this sort is at war with a 
wholesome administration of the laws, and those who 
administer the laws will be especial objects of mistrust 
and jealousy. The judiciary is in its very nature op- 
posed to any doctrine of mere expediency. It is the 
dispenser of justice, the representative of right. It can- 
not bend to the popular voice ; it is deaf to the clamors 
of the mob. The framers of our government desired 
to place it in this very position. To secure this it was 
necessary, first, that sufficient compensation should be 
given to induce the ablest men to ascend the bench, 
and, second, that they should be protected from being 



24 



attacked by any other branch of the government. In 
almost every state, assaults have been made upon the 
judiciary, and wherever they have been successful, the 
result has exhibited the wisdom of those who wished to 
throw around the bench every possible protection. 
In Massachusetts we have lately seen most able and 
eminent men descend from the bench, because their 
position was no longer safe from attack. I do not 
mean on this occasion to touch any chords of a party 
character ; but no considerations of political expediency 
shall prevent me from saying here, that the moral influ- 
ence of such a fact is in the highest degree alarming. 
It were better that petty politicians and their wretched 
schemes should be swept from the earth, than that such 
an act should go forth among the people as the settled 
policy of the state. 

One of the most significant facts in relation to 
society at the present day, is the indisposition to per- 
sonal responsibility which is everywhere exhibited. 
Men scarcely venture to go alone. Their individuality 
seems to be lost. They act and are acted upon in 
masses. Every one is attached to some party or sect 
with whom he acts in concert, and to whose principles 
he refers every new question that may arise. Now, 
this tendency has existed in some form in all ages. In 
the earlier periods of history, the people were never 
disposed to very great individuality of character ; they 
wished for others to judge for them ; and, in the patri- 
archal forms of government, the people leaned on their 
rulers for guidance, and were glad to be relieved of 



25 



responsibility. With us every man is compelled to act 
in the various events of the day, but there is a constant 
tendency or wish to siiift the responsibility of independ- 
ent action from himself to others. It may be from 
this feeling, that so many moral associations have grown 
up among us ; and the effect of these associations upon 
individual character in a republic is deserving of seri- 
ous inquiry, because every influence that tends to 
diminish the feeling of personal responsibility, is appa- 
rently opposed to that strength of mind and integrity 
of character, which are essential to the public and the 
private station. I dare not assert that the principle of 
association for moral purposes necessarily involves any 
such consequence, for this would be calling in question 
the authority and necessity of the church in one form, 
and the state in another. Indeed, there are principles 
of association which directly strengthen personal char- 
acter, and contribute to the individual as well as the 
general freedom. An exception may also be made at 
the outset as to those associations, of which the object 
is the improvement of the individual members, or the 
mutual restraint and reform of each other. Reference 
is here made to those associations exclusively, wherein 
the object proposed is the removal of some particular 
evil, not immediately affecting those engaged in the 
operation, or where the tendency is to diminish the 
spiritual freedom of those brought within their in- 
fluence. 

In tlie business world the tendency is to the accumu- 
lation of.wealth for particular purposes, which may be 



26 



more easily attained by a union of different persons, 
than by the single and divided efforts of each. Ac- 
cordingly corporations have increased to an extent un- 
paralleled in commercial history. The evils attendant 
upon them are quite obvious, especially the tendency 
to diminish the feeling of personal responsibility ; al- 
though the good is supposed to more than counterbal- 
ance this objection. But when this sort of machinery 
is made use of to accomplish moral purposes, a differ- 
ent result may be anticipated. The object of these as- 
sociations being to accomplish a particular purpose in 
the shortest possible time, they sometimes construct a 
sort of moral rail-road to a given point Avithout any re- 
gard to the rights of intervening proprietors, here, pass- 
ing over the highway and endangering the lives of un- 
wary travellers, there, destroying a house, and now rush- 
ing through a churchyard, disturbing the bones of our 
fathers rather than deviate from the most direct and 
feasible route. When the work is completed, an em- 
phatic warning is given for all to clear the track, while 
the great moral machine is on its way. But the paral- 
lel fails in a most important particular. Moral cor- 
porations are not obliged to apply to the lawmaking 
power for a charter, nor are they responsible for the 
injury they inflict on the rights of others ; and if they 
were, it is doubtful whether the capital invested in 
them would be sufficient to afford any adequate re- 
muneration. 

They who are thus united in a crusade against some 
particular evil, are often blind to others of a greater 



27 

magnitude, which grow out of the very measures they 
adopt. Resorting to a sort of mechanical process to 
accompUsh their ends, a rigid disciphne is inculcat- 
ed, and every man yields up to the general voice his 
own ideas of propriety. Moral questions are deter- 
mined by a majority of votes, and there is a sort of 
general conscience, which, like a corporate seal, may be 
affixed to any measure that receives the approbation of 
the directors. Personal identity is thus to a certain ex- 
tent lost ; individual freedom is surrendered, and the 
standard of morality brought so low, that men will 
consent to and assist in performing acts as members 
that they would refuse to do as individuals. 

The influence of these principles upon female char- 
acter is still more remarkable. When woman over- 
steps the modesty of her position, and enters upon the 
career of moral reform, her whole character seems to 
undergo a change. 

Women are soft, mild, pitiful, and flexible, 
Thou, stern, obdurate, flinty, rough, remorseless. 

And in these assemblies, which are composed of neither 
men nor angels, the expressions of a nervous his- 
torical writer are brought to mind, for there is nour- 
ished and trained a keen, pugnacious spirit, an un- 
bridled license of tongue, of which the influence is 
speedily felt, in the serious disturbance of domestic 
happiness, and even of the public peace. Sober moth- 
ers and sedate maiden ladies are transformed into a 
synod of slanderous praters, whose inquisitorial deliber- 
ations and audacious decrees instil their venom into 



28 



the innermost recesses of society, and the whole com- 
munity is sometimes inflamed and distracted by the 
eflfervescence of female spleen and presumption. 

Nor is this all. It has been the fate of such organi- 
zations to become subject to the control of unprinci- 
pled leaders, who apply an artificial stinmlus to all the 
operations, by means of elaborate reports, and pompous 
statistics of the good already accomplished, set off with 
gloomy accounts of the great work yet unperformed, 
and the feebleness of the means to the end. A feeling 
of intense pride and self conceit is engendered, and the 
most violent anathemas are hurled at all who stand in 
the way of their operations. To doubt is to be de- 
nounced ; to hesitate is to be trampled in the dust. 
Magnets may be so joined that their union developes 
new power, and together they exert more than the 
sum of their individual influence ; and so, when men are 
affected with any species of enthusiasm, it is immensely 
increased by union, while the whole body has only the 
restraint of one man's reason. 

These remarks apply in some measure to the organ- 
ization of political parties. I do not deprecate party 
spirit as the worst of evils. In a form of government 
like our own, it is necessary that political principles 
should be earnestly discussed, and the claims of candi- 
dates thoroughly canvassed; and this may be done 
with zeal, energy, enthusiasm, and yet the kindest feel- 
ings preserved. I have no sympathy with those who 
are continually lamenting the party spirit of our day, 
and at the same time join themselves to other organ- 



29 



izations, in which it is easier to obtain power and influ- 
ence. Tiiere are always disappointed men, who con- 
stantly complain of party discipline, without hfting a 
finger to improve it. Too selfish to devote their time 
to accomplish a reform, they are contented with sound- 
ing a perpetual note of alarm. Too feeble to lead, and 
too proud to serve, they watch with an impatient eye 
the movements of others, but are always ready to ac- 
cept of favors from either side. Nor do I believe that 
party spirit is so extensively felt, and party organizations 
so strict, as is generally supposed. On this point we 
are Hable to be deceived by appearances. Active pol- 
iticians, partisan leaders, are comparatively few, al- 
though they usually make the noise of many. To hear 
their harangues on the eve of an election, one would 
suppose that the fable of Chicken Little was about to 
become a truth, and that the sky was actually falling ; 
and so from the statements in party newspapers we often 
seem to be on the eve of a revolution ; but the great 
mass of the people in reality take very little interest in 
the matter. "Because half a dozen grasshoppers under 
a fern," says Burke, " make the field ring with their 
importunate chink, while thousands of great cattle, 
reposed beneath the shade, chew the cud and are si- 
lent, do not imagine that those who make the noise are 
the only inhabitants of the fields ; that they are, of 
course, many in number, or that after all, they are 
other than the little, shrivelled, meagre, hopping, 
though loud and troublesome, insects of the hour." 
It is also to be taken into the account, that selfish 



30 



party politicians operate as a check upon each other. 
The ins are exerting all their strength to keep in, and 
the outs are doing all they can to get in ; meanwhile 
sober and industrious citizens are ordinarily too much 
occupied with their own practical concerns to give 
much attention to either, and I apprehend more dan- 
ger from this indifference to politics on the part of the 
people, than from the excess of party spirit. They 
who are familiar with election returns are aware, that 
most great pohtical revolutions are effected, not so 
much by the change of opinion among those who or- 
dinarily exercise the elective franchise, as by the votes 
of those who do not usually perform this duty. There 
is in this country an immense reserved corps of voters, 
who only come out upon extraordinary occasions ; and 
so far as party discipline tends to bring out these 
voters, it is a positive good, and they who, from good 
motives, engage in political organizations of this sort 
are really entitled to great credit. 

Infinitely more danger is to be apprehended from 
those organizations, which involve the consideration of 
great moral questions, which are hurrying forward with 
a zeal that knows no reason, and an enthusiasm that 
cannot be restrained. The doctrine is practically main- 
tained, that men may do acts as a society for the 
accomplishment of a good object, which it would not 
be lawful for them to do as individuals. 

Such a principle as this is dangerous to the state ; it 
is disorganizing in its tendency, and destructive of all 
true freedom. An association founded upon such a 



31 



principle is in effect a moral mob — a conspiracy upon 
the rights and happiness of the people. What is a 
riot more than this ? Here, if the end will justify the 
means, if men in a society may do what it would not 
be right for them to do as individuals, a perfect de- 
fence is made out ; for there has hardly been a riot 
within the memory of man, where the end proposed 
was not regarded by those engaged in it as plausible 
and just. What is a riot but the joining together of 
men to accomplish some good object in a less space of 
time than it could otherwise be effected; to hasten 
that which the laws will too slowly reach ;' to act 
in aid of divine justice in the punishment of some 
crime, or attempt, (to borrow a daring German expres- 
sion) to grind down the gaps in the sword of Almighty 
justice ? 

It will be found that the riots of our day differ in an 
important particular from those of an earlier date, and 
the fact is remarkable as tending to show, that these 
lawless, outbreaks are only the external and gross mani- 
festation of the principles advocated by other associa- 
tions. They are no longer the sudden ebulitions of 

' Even well regulated minds sometimes excuse a riot where the result ap- 
pears to be good. When a murderer, for instance, is immediately hanged by 
Lynch law, they regret the act but find consolation in the fact that the punish- 
ment was well deserved. But is the violation of law in reality any the less 
gross ? Is not the danger increased when a riot is justified by any reasoning 
whatever ? In Coxe's Memoirs of the Pelham administration, (vol. 1, p. 
448) there is a letter from Pelham to liis brother, tlie Duke of Newcastle, in 
which lie quotes the following remark of Algernon Sidney, the night before 
his execution ; " Nephew, I value not my own life a chip, but what concerns 
me is, that the law which takes away my life, may hang every one of you 
whenever it is thought convenient." 



32 



passion and rage, rushing forward without aim or end, 
and rendered comparatively harmless by the want of 
system and skilful directors; but they have become 
organized bodies, with conspicuous leaders, and with 
plans deliberately made. They go forward to the ac- 
complishment of their object with a coolness and delib- 
eration, that wins for them, in some instances, the title 
of respectability. We sometimes hear of a mob of 
gentlemen — a quiet assemblage — a peaceable gather- 
ing, which calmly accomplished its objects and then 
dispersed. We read of courts regularly conducted to 
try culprits by Lynch law ; and a tribunal of this sort 
which orders the burning of a negro, or the public 
whipping of a thief, or the expulsion of gamblers from 
a town, or the destruction of a newspaper press, is not 
seldom praised, by implication at least, for the order 
and regularity of its proceedings. 

Now, what more is this than the outward manifesta- 
tion of principles which have their growth on another 
soil ? I do not hesitate to assert, that doctrines have 
recently been openly avowed in New England and de- 
fended with no little zeal and ingenuity, before as- 
semblages of both sexes, which tend directly to a 
breach of the peace, and which for intense radicalism, 
a coarseness and brutality of expression, and an utter 
contempt for social order, were never exceeded by 
leaders of Parisian mobs in the darkest days of the 
French revolution. In rehgious assemblies, or at least 
those which were attended by the forms of Christianity, 
which were opened and closed by prayer, the ravings 



33 



of infidelity have had free course — the Bible has been 
criticised in the most impious terms, the name and 
attributes of God blasphemed, all laws openly de- 
nounced, and the social system attacked with coarse 
and vulger vituperation. Nor is this all. Deliberate 
attempts have been made to resist the administration 
of the laws, and direct appeals made to the people for 
this purpose. The pulpit has undertaken to control 
the judiciary, and from the sacred desk a doctrine has 
been preached, of which the direct tendency is to un- 
dermine the moral sense of the people as to the obli- 
gation of an oath to support the constitution. 

These are not the insane ravings of ignorant and 
depraved citizens ; but they are the doctrines of educa- 
ted men, of those whose abilities and standing in society 
give an influence to their opinions. How can we won- 
der at the violations of law, the riots, the murders that 
are borne to our ears on every breeze, when such doc- 
trines are promulgated in religious assemblies, preached 
from the pulpit and sent through the press to every 
family in the nation ? 

For gross breaches of the peace the laws, in theory 
at least, aflford a remedy and prescribe a punishment ; 
but what human tribunal can reach those who are in 
reality responsible for these outrages ? The deluded 
and excited multitude, whose hands commit the overt 
acts, are not in truth the most guilty in these af- 
fairs ; but it is he who has infused the poison into the 
public heart — the scholar, whose mind is enriched by 
ancient lore and modern science, and who in his quiet 



34 



study, surrounded by all the blandishments of literature 
and art, sends out among the people, with whom he 
has no personal sympathy, his detestable doctrines. He 
does not soil his hands by personal contact with the 
masses. He resorts to no force. He denounces all 
force. He would scorn to place himself at the head of 
a mob. But it is he who sends them forth on their 
errand of death ; and in heaven's chancery it is record- 
ed against him. He escapes the punishment of human 
laws, and is it strange that those also generally escape 
who are immediately engaged in the work ? When, 
when have those concerned in any riot of magnitude 
been adequately punished ? 

It cannot be denied, that there is a low state of pub- 
He morals on this subject in every part of our country. 
After the occurrence of any riot, there is abundance of 
regret that it should have happened, and an appearance 
of great indignation ; but when any active measures for 
punishment or renumeration are attempted, how soon 
the ardor cools, and what a shuffling and disgraceful 
policy is adopted, even by sovereign states ! 

Massachusetts has within her borders a standing 
monument of her shame. But there are some instances 
of manly integrity and public virtue in her early histo- 
ry — of an elevated and far reaching policy — to which 
her citizens may point with pride and hope. They are 
wordiy of consideration on this occasion, especially as 
the outbreaks just prior to the revolution have been 
alluded to as giving a sanction to modern riots. 

The period immediately preceding the revolution was 



35 



one of excitement and constant alarm. The citizens 
were oppressed in a manner that led of necessity to a 
war of resistance. The whole history of that time ex- 
hibits uncommon patience and forbearance on the part 
of the people, and it was not until patience ceased to 
be a virtue, when it was found that the kincr was deter- 
mined to persevere in his tyrannical acts, that their 
loyalty began to yield. The passage of the stamp act, 
by a vote of 294 to 49, made it evident that a hope 
of justice could no longer be indulged. Independence 
does not seem to have been aimed at even then. The 
people hoped, by a vigorous opposition to this measure, 
to maintain their rights in peace ; but when the distrib- 
utor of stamps was actually appointed in Boston, the 
excitement in the town was beyond all precedent, and, 
for a moment, reason was driven from her throne. The 
office of the stamp distributor was torn down, his house 
attacked, and he was compelled to resign the office ; 
and while the people were in a state of turmoil and ex- 
citement, a person arrived from England with evidence 
that Hutchinson, the lieutenant-governor and chief jus- 
tice of the province, had formerly written home in favor 
of this odious act. The public mind was in that state 
when only a spark was needed to kindle a conflagra- 
tion. The house of the chief justice was attacked — 
himself and family obliged to fly — his papers burned — 
his property destroyed, and nothing but the blackened 
walls left standing to tell the story of lawless violence. 
Such was the first important riot of the revolution. If 
ever a resort to violence could be extenuated or excused, 



36 



it was this — the outbreak of a people driven to desper- 
ation. But the men of that day had not learned the 
specious reasoning of more modern times. The law 
was regarded as sacred ; public order was to be pre- 
served at all events, and it is impossible to describe the 
horror and grief with which this whole affair was re- 
garded.' 

At the next meeting of the general court, the ques- 
tion came up of compensation for the damages. The 
house expressed their disapprobation of the riot, but 
professed to entertain scruples as to their right to make 
any compensation, taking the ground, also, that the 
state could not be justly considered responsible for 
the acts of a few individuals, and thus by a feeble poli- 
cy, they entrenched themselves behind a technical point. 
At the next session the subject was again agitated, and 
it was then referred to the towns, each of which were 
to vote on the subject, and the assembly had a recess 
in order to ascertain their will. The commonwealth 
was sound at the heart. The people were anxious 
to maintain a high ground in point of character, and 

' A regular town meeting was immediately called, in Boston, at which 
James Otis was moderator, and it was voted unanimously that the town had 
an utter detestation of these extraordinary and violent proceedings, and that 
" the selectmen and magistrates of the town be desired to use their utmost 
endeavors agreeable to law, to suppress the like disorders for the future, and 
that the freeholders and otlicr inhabitants will do every thing in their power 
to assist them therein. Voted, that the inhabitants of this town will be ready 
on all occasions to assist the selectmen and magistrates in the suppression of 
all disorders of a like nature that may happen when called upon for that pur- 
pose." Records of the town of Boston, vol. 4, page 668. 

In a letter of the town to DeBerdt, the agent of the province in London, 
October 22, 1766, apparently drawn up by James Otis, they indignantly deny 
all knowledge of, or participation in these outrages, and refer to their former 
votes and to well known facts. Ibid, vol. 4, pages 723, 724. 



37 

to prove to the world, by the adoption of a manly 
policy, that they were worthy of respect and confi- 
dence. The representatives received their instructions, 
and full indemnity was ordered by a vote of 53 to 35. 
The amount paid was over three thousand pounds.* 

Let it be remembered that this was at a period when 
the whole people were about breaking out into open 
resistance ; that it was the deliberate opinion of this 
same assembly that the stamp act ought not to be en- 
forced ; that independence had begun to be openly 
advocated, and that the persons injured by this riot were 

1 The vote of the town of Boston on this question, was as follows ^ 
The Town then took into consideration the Clause in the warrant, viz : — 
«' To determine whether they will give their Representatives Instructions re- 
lative to a Reimbursement being made to those Gentlemen who suffered by 
the violences of Persons unknown in the month of August, 1765," when the 
following vote was passed unanimously. 

Whereas the Inhabitants of this Town have ever held the violent outrages 
of Pers..ns unknown in the late Times of distress in the utmost detestation 
and abhorrence, and from a sense of duty as well as just indignation at the 
ravages committed on the property of diverse of their Fellow Subjects and 
Citiz°ens on the 26th of August 1765, took the earliest opportunity to exert 
their strenuous endeavors, in aid of the civil authority to restore peace, order 
and tranquillity ; which were accordingly in one day restored and have been 
ever since preserved. And whereas his Majesty has been pleased only to 
recovimend it to the General Assembly of this Province to make up the losses 
of the Suiferers in the late unhappy Times, although his Excellency tiie 
Governor has thought fit to interpret the same as a Requisition so peremptory 
and authoritive as to preclude not only all controversy and debate, but even 
deliberation with regard to a compliance. From no regard to said interpreta- 
tion, but in dutiful respect to the mild recommendation of our most gracious 
Sovereign, in humanity and generosity towards those Gentlemen who have 
suffered^in a manner that no man ought, especially in a state of civil society ; 
Voted, that on the application of such Sufferers to the General Assembly in 
a Parliamentary way, the Representatives of tiiis Town be directed, and they 
are accordingly directed in their best discretion to use their influence, that 
such losses be made up as far as may be, in a manner the most loyal and re- 
spectful with regard to his Majesty, the most constitutional and safe with re- 
gard to our invaluable rights and privileges, and the most humane and be- 
nevolent with regard to the sufferers. Records of Boston, vol. 4, pp. 715— 
717. 



38 



generally obnoxious to the whole people ; and, more 
than all, that the province, oppressed by taxes of its 
own, with an enfeebled commerce, and all their efforts 
paralyzed by political troubles, could ill afford to bear 
other burthens." 

The history of that mournful tragedy, known as the 
Boston Massacre, is full of evidence to show the sound- 
ness of our fathers on the subject under consideration. 
This painful occurrence arose out of a collision be- 
tween the citizens of Boston and the British soldiers 
who had been stationed here. The act of quartering 
soldiers upon the town had been resented by the people 
from the first, and sagacious men had often predicted 
the difficulties which ensued. As early as May, 1761, 
a committee of the general court remonstrated to the 
governor, that an armament by sea and land, investing 
Boston, and a military guard with cannon pointed at 
the door of the state house, were inconsistent with that 
dignity and freedom with which they had a right to de- 
liberate, consult and determine. In June of the same 
year the house passed resolves, by which they declared, 
among other things, that the establishment of a stand- 
ing army in the colony, in time of peace, was an inva- 
sion of natural rights ; that a standing army was not 
known as a part of the British constitution ; and that 
sending an armed force into the colony under pretence 

' One great difficulty in procuring an act of indemnity undoubtedly was 
the unpopularity of Hutchinson, and the tone of the governor on the subject. 
In the archives of the commonwealth there is a letter from DeBerdt, in which 
he hardly disguises his surprise that compensation was not immediately 
made. 



39 



of assisting the civil authority, was highly dangerous to 
the people, unprecedented and unconstitutional. The 
policy of the government was not changed, however, 
and the natural consequences of quartering a foreign 
soldiery upon an unwiUing and spirited people were 
soon apparent, first in the excited and bitter complaints 
of the whole province, and then in direct collisions be- 
tween the soldiers and the citizens, until at length, on 
the memorable fifth of March, 1770, an attack was 
made by a mob on the sentinel who was stationed be- 
fore the custom house.' The soldier loaded his gun 
and retreated up the steps as far as he could, and then 
shouted for protection. A corporal and six privates 
were sent to his relief, who, after being grossly insulted 
and attacked, fired upon the crowd. Three men were 
instantly killed, five were dangerously wounded, and a 
few slightly. It is impossible to describe the excite- 
ment which this event occasioned. The whole people 
of Massachusetts were wrought to the highest pitch of 
rage and indignation. The populace breathed only 
vengeance, and even minds better instructed were en- 
tirely carried away at the sight of the blood of citizens, 
slain by a foreign soldiery. The excitement was in- 
creased by the pomp and ceremony of the funeral rites, 
and by an account of the transaction published by the 

' The custom house stood at the corner of Slate and Exchange (then Roy- 
al Exchange lane) streets, on the spot where the Union Bank building now 
stands. On the opposite corner of Exchange street the Royal Exchange 
Tavern stood. The main guard was regularly stationed near the head of 
State (then King) street, directly opposite the door on the south side of the 
old state house (then called the town house.) The twenty-ninth regiment 
was quartered in Water and Atkinson streets. 



40 



town, which differed widely from the facts as subse- 
quently proved/ 

The soldiers were immediately arrested, and their 
trial for murder took place under a pressure of excite- 
ment, indignation and prejudice, at which the stoutest 
heart must quail. But among the friends of freedom 
there were men who viewed this matter in the light of 
truth and reason, and who earnestly desired that jus- 
tice should not fall a sacrifice in her own temple. 
John Adams and Josiah Quincy, jr. undertook the de- 
fence of the prisoners. They were both young men 
and popular leaders. Their influence was great with 
the people, and it was rapidly increasing. They were 
ardent and uncompromising friends of freedom, and op- 
ponents of the whole course of the mother country. 
In consenting to defend the soldiers they acted con- 
trary to their own interests, and incurred the disappro- 
bation of those whose favor they were naturally anx- 
ious to preserve. "My dear son" — wrote the aged 

^ "A short narrative of the horrid massacre in Boston, perpetrated in the 
evening of the fifth of March, 1770, by soldiers of the 29th regiment; which 
with the 14th regiment were quartered there ; with some observations on the 
state of things prior to that catastrophe. Printed by order of the town of 
Boston, and sold by Edes & Gill, in Queen street, and T. & J. Fleet, in 
Cornhill, 1770." This publication was intended principally for the English 
market, and the work was sent there by a vessel hired by the town for the 
purpose. The funeral solemnities of those who were killed were conducted 
with great jiomp and splendor. Crispus Attucks, a mulatto, and James 
Caldwell, who were strangers in Boston, were borne from Faiieuil Hall, Sam- 
uel Maverick, a youth of seventeen, from his mother's house in Union street, 
and Samuel Gray, from his brother's in Royal Exchange lane. The four 
hearses formed a junction in King street, at the place where the deceased 
fell, and thence an immense procession marched in columns of six deep 
through the main street to the central burying ground, where the four bodies 
were deposited in one tomb, amidst the solemn tolling of all the bells in Bos- 
ton and the neighboring towns. 



41 

father of Quincy — "I am under great affliction at hear- 
ing the bitterest reproaches uttered against you, for 
having become an advocate for those criminals who 
are charged with the murder of their fellow citizens. 
Good God! Is it possible? I will not believe it." 
" These men," was the noble answer, " are entitled by 
the laws of God and man to all legal counsel and aid." 
.... " You and this whole people will one day re- 
joice that I became their advocate." .... "There 
are honest men in all sects — I wish their approbation ; 
—there are wicked bigots in all parties, I abhor them." 
Under these circumstances the trial of the soldiers 
took place, and never were prisoners defended with 
greater zeal and enthusiasm than were these by the 
young advocates, who were sacrificing their own feel- 
ings to principle, and their future prospects to a sense 
of justice. They took the high and manly ground that 
the attack on the soldiers was a lawless outbreak — a 
riot— and that they had a right to take life in self-de- 
fence ; and here in the town of Boston, on the eve of 
a revolution, in the midst of an excitement unparallel- 
ed in history, were the true principles of justice ad- 
vocated, and the sound doctrines of law and order 
proclaimed. " The cause of liberty" — Quincy exclaim- 
ed at the trial, in the language of the Farmer of Penn- 
sylvania,' "is a cause of too much dignity to be sullied 

" The celebrated " Farmer's Letters" were written against the revenue 
acts of Great Britain, by John Dickinson of Pennsylvania. The depths of 
research, force of argument, and perspicuity of style, which appeared in these 
letters, made them popular with all classes of readers in America. Dr. 
Franklin caused tliem to he reprinted in England, with a commendatory 
preface from his own pen. Sparks's Life of Franklin, p. 45G. 



42 



by turbulence and tumult ; it ought to be maintained 
in a manner suitable to her nature. Those who en- 
gage in it should breathe a sedate yet fervent spirit, 
animating them to actions of prudence, justice, moder- 
ation, bravery, humanity and magnanimity." " The 
law," said John Adams, at the close of his masterly 
appeal to the jury — " in all vicissitudes of government, 
fluctuations of the passions, or flights of enthusiasm, will 
preserve a steady undeviating course ; it will not bend 
to the uncertain wishes, imaginations and wanton tem- 
pers of men." .... "On the one hand, it is inexo- 
rable to the cries and lamentations of the prisoners ; 
on the other, it is deaf, deaf as an adder, to the clam- 
ors of the populace." 

The appeal was not unsuccessful. Justice triumph- 
ed. The soldiers were all acquitted with the exception 
of two, and those two were convicted of a less offence, 
for which the punishment was merely nominal.' 

Those who sacrifice their lives for their country 
are held in dear remembrance by all succeeding ages. 
Leonidas and his band will live as long as the fame of 
Sparta. The Roman Curtius survives the forum which 
he died to save. The soldier who bares his breast to 
the invader's weapon, receives the highest honors of his 
country while living, and her benediction after -he is 
dead. But infinitely higher in the scale of moral ex- 
cellence is the place assigned to those, who dare to de- 
fend an enemy from injustice, and, rising above the 

' They prayed the benefit of clergy, which was allowed them, and there- 
upon they were each burnt in the hand, in open court, and were discharged. 



43 



temporary excitements of the day, are willing to sacri- 
fice ambitious dreams, the hopes of worldly success, 
the approbation of Iriends, and all that man holds dear 
as a citizen, in the cause of truth and justice. The 
story of our revolution is full of self-sacrifices, of toils, 
of disheartening struggles. But there is no single 
act recorded in its history which exhibits more true 
magnanimity, more Roman integrity, or greater devo- 
tion to principle, than the defence of the British soldiers 
by John Adams and Josiah Quincy, jr. 

Josiah Quincy, jr. ! — What associations are con- 
nected with that familiar name ! That devoted patriot, 
whose liquid tones and fervid eloquence so charmed 
and dehghted the multitude — whose truth and sincerity 
were never questioned — whose character was tainted 
by nothing for his descendants to regret. Just spring- 
ing into active life — devoting himself to his country, 
and entering into her service with all the energies of 
his great heart, he was called to another scene of ex- 
istence, "dying within sight of that beloved country 
which he was not permitted to reach. He expired not 
as a few weeks afterwards did his friend and copatriot 
Warren, in battle, on a field ever memorable and ever 
glorious, but in solitude, amidst suffering, without as- 
sociate, and without witness; yet breathing forth a 
dying wish for his country, desiring to live only to per- 
form towards her a last and signal service." But his 
name still lives with us; his blood still flows in the 
veins of honored men, who hold the character and 
fame qf their ancestor as a sacred trust. May that 



44 



name ever hold its place in the affections of our coun- 
trymen ; never may it be stained by weakness or folly ; 
never may those who bear it yield to the clamors of a 
mob, or be found wanting in the defence of liberty and 
law. 

John Adams ! — He in whose arms was cradled the 
infant revolution. Who early saw the necessity of in- 
dependence, and who, with an impetuosity that knew 
no restraint — with an energy that could not be repress- 
ed, threw himself into the front of the contest, and, 
in the face of doubting friends and bitter foes, fearlessly 
avowed his determination to survive or perish with his 
country, in the glorious struggle that was approaching. 
Long years of honor and happiness were his. Long 
did he live to witness the success he had predicted, and 
on this day — the birth-day of the nation — he peacefully 
left the scene of his struggles and his triumphs. He, 
too, has left a son, who does not hesitate to contend for 
principle, who does not fear to oppose his own friends 
whep they wish to do a wrong. Long may he be 
spared to a nation which needs his services — to a peo- 
ple who appreciate his character. Long may he stand 
where he now stands, the representative of freemen, 
the friend of just principles, the denouncer of tyranny 
in all its forms, the advocate of freedom, such as his 
father contended for, of freedom to all — the unflinching 
defender of that Saxon bulwark, the right of petition. 
When the waves of popular commotion run mountain 
high, when anarchy, misrule and faction threaten all 
that is sacred, there may the son of John Adams stand, 



45 



— that old man eloquent — breasting the fury of the 
storm, hke Atlas firm — 

While storms and tempests thunder on its brow 
And oceans break their billows at its feet. 

A comparison of the present and past conditions of 
our country, and the character of the people, gives rise 
to the most serious reflections. In all that relates to 
our physical condition, in wealth, in population and in 
power, how infinitely superior to what we were at the 
close of the revolution ! How brilliant the prospect 
before us ! But in moral character, in public and pri- 
vate virtue, in national faith and honor, is there not 
equal reason for humiliation and alarm ? Look for a 
moment at the statesmen of that day. Consider the 
administration of Washington, rising from the midst of 
confusion and misrule in the imposing grandeur of that 
great name, and overshadowing all subsequent times, 
offering to the world an example of moderation and 
virtue, the sublime spectacle of a government founded 
on the consent of the governed ; and then reflect on our 
present condition, the only great christian slave-hold- 
ing power, with the faith and honor of nearly one-fourth 
of the Union sunk under a mass of extravagance and> 
folly, with feeble men at the head of aflfairs ; refusing to 
pay the debts of our own states, but proposing to as-; 
sume those of a neighbor, and encouraged to entei* 
upon a career of violence and conquest, in defence of 
a system of wrong and oppression, which must inevita- 
bly draw down upon us the scorn and execration of 



46 



mankind. Compare the first congress under the con- 
stitution — an assemblage of sreat and virtuous states- 
men, deliberating with earnestness and zeal upon the 
grand principles of free institutions — compare the con- 
duct of this grave and dignified body with the scenes of 
violence, and the total neglect of business, which have 
been exhibited to the present generation. 

One of the most exciting events in English history is 
the expulsion of the house of commons by the iron 
hand of Cromwell.' We fear no such act of arbitrary 
power ; we desire no such scene of violence ; but could 
virtue, with justice as her handmaid, sit enthroned in 
our capitol, would not her pure and mild influence drive 
from those halls a portion of the men who now rule the 
destinies of this people ? 

But the most discouraging aspect of the times is the 
indifference with which these things are viewed, or 
rather the efforts made to persuade us that they do 
not exist. We turn with disgust and abhorrence from 
the gross adulation and homage rendered to despots 
in other countries ; but is there not a similar spirit 
exhibited here towards the people, who are themselves 
the sovereign ? That the king can do no wrong is 
a legal fiction in England ^ that the people can do no 

^ After having listened to the debate until his patience was exhausted, the 
protector suddenly started up and loaded the parliament with the vilest re- 
proaches for their tyranny, ambition, oppression and robbery of the public. 
Then stamping with his foot, which was a signal for the soldiers to enter, he 
exclaimed in o loud voice, " For shame, get you gone ; give place to honester 
men ; to those who will more faithfully discharge their trust. You are no 
longer a parliament. The Lord has done with you : he has chosen other in- 
struments for carrying on his work." Hume's History of England. 



47 



wrong is getting to be considered a moral fact in 
America. The constant aim of the demagogue is to 
flatter the people, to convince them that what they 
choose to do is necessarily right. And this is repeated 
so often, and in such different forms, that the dulled ap- 
petite calls for yet grosser adulation. To flatter the 
people ; to obey in all things their wishes ; to preach to 
them their own infallibility, 

And crook the pregnant hinges of the knee, 
Where thrift may follow fawning — 

are the highest arts of the demagogue ; and it is a mor- 
tifying truth, that his success is often commensurate with 
his exertions in this direction. It is an equally signifi- 
cant, and perhaps a more alarming fact, that the same 
deference to the will of the people is infusing itself into 
the church ; and a holiday faith, built on man's own in- 
fallibility, commends itself to his vanity ; while the dig- 
nity of his nature, rather than his weakness and his 
wants, is a popular theme from the pulpit. 

These are gloomy reflections. But they need not 
disturb our faith in our government. They are evils 
which exist independent of the government ; they are a 
departure from the principles established by our fathers. 

I have faith in the perpetuity of our institutions, be- 
cause I believe they have been established, in the order 
of divine providence, for the regeneration and happi- 
ness of the people, and I do not suppose God ever 
undertakes to make himself wiser by experiments. I 
have confidence in man's capacity for self-government, 
not because I have faith in humanity, weak, blind and 



48 



frail as it is, but because I have faith in God, that he 
will support those in the greatest possible freedom, 
who live in obedience to the laws of order which 
emanate from himself For if there is any truth in 
history; if the experience of all ages points to any 
great central truth, it is, that liberty and virtue go 
hand in hand, and that free institutions can only be 
maintained by those who live in simple obedience to 
the truth. 

The motives to moral action press upon the Ameri- 
can citizen with unusual force at the present time. 
Upon us the hopes of man are resting in every part of 
the world. Wherever humanity toils for a scanty sub- 
sistence ; wherever the iron heel of oppression falls 
upon the people ; wherever the last hope of liberty is 
dead — 

From the burning plains 



Where Lybian monsters yell, 
From the most gloomy glens 
Of Greenland's sunless climes, 
To where ttie golden fields 
Of fertile England spread 
Their harvest to the sky — 

" the voices of the past and the future seem to blend 
in one sound of warning and entreaty, addressing itself 
not only to the general but to the individual ear, calling 
upon us, each and all, to be faithful to the trust which 
God has committed to our hands." 

Let the American citizen feel the responsibilities of 
his position, with a determination that the hopes of the 
world shall not be disappointed. Nor let him mistake 
the nature of his duties. Many men acknowledge our 



49 



evils and our dangers, but seek in vain for the remedy. 
They are ready for any sacrifice, but earnestly inquire 
when and where it is to be made. We eagerly seize 
upon any excuse for the non-performance of duty. 
"Give me where to stand," cried the ancient philoso- 
pher, "and I will move thb world." "Find where to 
stand," shouts the modern reformer. " Stand where 
you are," is the voice of reason and religion. It is not 
upon some great and distant entcrprize that our duty 
will call us. It is not in the tented field that our servi- 
ces will be needed. The battle ground is in our own 
hearts ; the enemy in our own bosoms. And when the 
passions of men are subdued, when selfishness is purged 
from humanity, when lust ceases to burn, when anger 
is entirely restrained, when jealousy, hatred and re- 
venge are unknown, then, and then only, is the victory 
won. 

Let no man merge his identity in the masses, nor 
forget his individual responsibility to his country and 
his God. Is his position lowly and obscure, let him re- 
member that every one exerts an influence, for good or 
for evil, and no one is so humble as not to need the 
protection of a good government. Is he called to 
places of responsibility and trust, let him bear his hon- 
ors meekly but firmly, yielding nothing to the blandish- 
ments of power, or the acclamations of the multitude. 
He may be hurled from his station by those who placed 
him in it, and the voices of praise, which were once 
sweet music to his ears, may be changed to execra- 
tions. Let him lay down his power in dignity and 



50 



silence ; as he has filled a high place without pride, 
he may fill a low one without humiliation. And if, in 
the performance of duty, sterner trials await him ; if 
misrule and lawless faction should select him as a vic- 
tim, let him calmly die, remembering that the best and 
the bravest — earth's noblest children — have drunk the 
cup of degradation to the dregs, and better men than 
he have been sacrificed by popular violence. In what- 
ever position he may be placed ; wherever his lot may 
be cast, let him maintain the integrity of his soul. 

This above all, — To thine own self be true ; 
And it must follow, as the night the day. 
Thou canst not then be false to any man. 



NOTE TO PAGE 37. 



A FULL account of the riot in which the property of Lieutenant-Governor 
Hutchinson was destroyed, and of the Act of Indemnity, is given in his his- 
tory of Massachusetts ; but as he naturally had much feeling upon the sub- 
ject of which he wrote, it is fortunate that nearly all of the original papers 
relating to the aflFair are preserved in the archives of the commonwealth, 
from which, with Hutchinson's work, a correct account may be derived. On 
the day after the riot, the Lieutenant-Governor applied to the Governor and 
Council, and a Committee was immediately appointed, who made an estimate 
of his loss (which is still preserved) amounting to more than three thousand 
pounds. It appears that the Lieutenant-Governor, being a servant of the 
Crown, had declined applying, in the first instance, to the general court, for 
compensation as an act of favor, not knowing the pleasure of the King or the 
mind of his ministers, and upon a representation to the secretary of state of 
his case, rested altogether upon the measures which might be judged the 
most proper for obtaining it. When the matter came before the house, there 
was much complaint at this proceeding, as being an unparliamentary course ; 
and the town of Boston, in the vote which was taken on the subject, clearly 
intimated that a proper application should be made to the assembly, as a con- 
dition of their representatives voting for indemnity. Accordingly, Hutchin- 
son sent in a petition to the " Governor, Council and House of Representa- 
tives," which is still preserved. It is dated October 29th, 176(j, and sets forth, 
that on the evening of the 15th of August, 1765, a number of persons un- 
known beset his house, and required satisfaction that he had not encouraged 
the passing of the Stamp Act, but were persuaded to leave by the advice of 
several reputable inhabitants, having done no other damage than breaking 
some of the windows ; — that the petitioner had in fact endeavored to prevent 
the jiassing of the Act ; that on the evening of the 26th of the same month, 
"a much greater number of persons unknown, with all the rage and fury 
imaginable, suddenly, with axes, clubs and other instruments, burst or broke 



52 



opnn the doors and windows of the dwelling-house aforesaid, dispersed 
through every part of the house, destroyed the furniture, carried away the 
wearing aiiparel, books, papers, money and effects of every sort, belonging to 
your Petitioner and his family (a small part of the kitchen furniture only 
excepted) and continued from between eight and nine of the clock in the 
evening until after four the next morning, ruining the house, outhouses, 
fences, gardens, (fee, and threatening destruction to all who should oppose 
or interrupt them." That he represented the case the next day to the Gov- 
ernor in Council, and a committee, appointed to estimate the loss, reported it 
to amount to £3163 17s. dd. of which sum he had received about £30 and no 
more ; that the Governor at the next session laid the matter before the house ; 
that tlie iiouse were pleased to observe that the application liad not been made 
in a parliamentary way ; that the petitioner, being a servant of the crown, 
had deemed it decent and in character to lay the matter first before the gov- 
ernor, but would have then preferred the petition to the three branches of the 
Legislature, if he had known that it would have been thought necessary ; 
that tiie petitioner, as soon as it came to his knowledge that an ajiplication in 
such a manner was judged by the house to be necessary, determined to con- 
form thereto, and now prayed that a compensation might be made him for 
his great losses and sufferings aforesaid. "And he begs leave further to rep- 
resent, that exclusive of that pain and distress of mind which he is unable to 
describe, arising from tiiis most injurious, barbarous treatment, he has been 
deprived above fourteen months of the use of this great part of his substance, 
and he with his family have been subjected to many inconveniences, difficul- 
ties and extraordinary charges, he therefore hopes and prays for a favorable 
consideration of his case in all its circumstances." 

There was great opposition to making any compensation whatsoever, and 
the difficulty was very much increased by the course of the Governor and the 
unpopularity of Hutchinson. But the friends of the province, in England, 
were strongly of the opinion that the character of the people would suffer in- 
conceivably in liie eyes of the world, if compensation was not made to the 
fullest extent. The King also recommended it, and tlie people were not slow 
in perceiving tliat they could only hope to maintain their rights and receive the 
sympathy and support of Christendom by a high and manly policy, founded 
upon tlie principles of justice ; and although the assembly doubted tiieir right 
to vote away money for this purpose, when it was referred to the people, the 
towns recommended it, and tlie act passed accordingly by a vote of 53 to 35. 
But they passed a resolve at the same time, that they " were influenced by 
a loyal and grateful regard to his majesty's most mild and gracious recom- 
mendation, by a deference to tlie opinion of the illustrious patrons of the 
colonies in Great Britain, and by a regard to internal peace and order, with- 
out respect to any interpretation of his IMajesty's recommendation into a re- 
quisition precluding all debate and controversy, and with full persuasion that 
the sufferers had no just claim or demand on the province; and that this 
compliance ought not hereafter to be drawn into a precedent." 

The act provided thattliere be "granted and paid out of the treasury of the 
province, to the Honorable Thomas Hutchinson, Esq., the sum of three thou- 
sand, one hundred and ninety-four pounds, seventeen shillings and six pence. 



53 



in full compensation for the losses and sufferings, that he and the several 
persons in his family had sustained in the late times of confusion. 

To the Honorable Andrew Oliver, Esq., tiie sum of one hundred and 
seventy-two pounds, four shillings. 

To Benjamin Halloweli, Jun., Esq., the sum of three hundred eighty-five 
pounds, six shillings and ten pence. 

To William Storey, Esq., the sum of sixty-seven pounds, eight shillings and 
ten pence, in full compensation for their losses and sufferings in the late 
times of confusion." 

Among the papers there is a statement by Hutchinson of his losses, in a 
long and very curious document, covering twenty-one closely written pages. 

Tlie act contained the usual provisions for a free pardon of all engaged in 
the riot, and to all other persons who had been guilty of any crimes, occasion- 
ed by the late troubles. The act was approved by the Governor, but when 
laid before the King it was disapproved, on account of the last named provis- 
ion. But the money was paid before the news arrived, and nothing further 
passed upon the subject. 

It is probable that the proceedings on this subject may suggest an inquiry 
as to the destruction of the tea in Boston harbor. But the two transactions 
seem to be clearly distinguishable in this, that the destruction of the tea was 
immediately on the eve of the revolution, when independence was openly ad- 
vocated, and the country had begun to organize. But in point of fact, the 
question of compensation was here agitated, and it is not improbable that it 
would have been made, if the crisis in affairs had been delayed a few years 
longer. 

When Hutchinson sailed for England, June 1, 1774, he says there were 
great expectations in the friends of Government, that a sufficient sum would 
be raised for payment of the tea, if not by a vote of the town, by subscriptions 
of private merchants and others. In the Blassachusetts Gazette and Boston 
W^eekly News Letter, of June 9, 177J, there is an address from Lewis De- 
blois, Martin Gay, Tiieophilus Lillie, Alexander Brimmer, James Perkins, 
Henry Lee, Thomas Amory, Harrison Gray, Philip Dumaresq, Richard 
Lechmere, and one hundred and seventeen others, to Governor Gage, in 
which they express a hope that his endeavors to promote the peace and tran- 
quillity of the province may meet with success, and make the following sin- 
gular statement in relation to the destruction of the tea : "Making restitu- 
tion to the East India Company for damage done to their property, and for 
damage done to the persons and property of individuals among us by the out- 
raire of rash and inconsiderate men, we look upon to be quite equitable, and we 
who have ever disavowed all lawless violences do bear our testimony against 
them, and particularly against that action which we suppose to be the imme- 
diate cause of our heavy chastisement, are willing to pay our proportions 
whenever the same can be ascertained, and the mode of levying it determin- 
ed on." In his answer Governor Gage said : " It is greatly to be wished for 
the good of the community in general, that those in whose hands power is 
vested should use the most speedy methods to fulfil the King's expectation, 
and fix the mode to indemnify the East India Company, and others who have 
suffered, which could not fail to extricate the citizens of Boston out of the 



54 



difficulties, in which t>ey are involved, with as little delay as the nature of 
them will admit, and lay a foundation for that harmony between Great Brit- 
ain and the colony which every considerate and good man must wish to see 
established ; and nothing shall be wanting on my part to accomplish an end 
so desirable." 

In the same paper there is an extract of a letter from " a gentleman of the 
Committee in New York, dated 26th May, 1774," in which he says : " 1 am 
glad to find your people disposed for moderation, and indeed if the senti- 
ments of your neighboring colonies are of weight, they will not hesitate to 
make suitable reparation and come to the best terms they can, however arbi- 
trary the Act may appear." 

They who find in the destruction of the tea any justification of modern ri- 
ots, have little knowledge of tlie facts attending it, and less idea of the spirit 
by which the town of Boston was actuated. 



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